1. Statement of the Technical Field
The invention concerns control systems and methods for simulating Fieldbus devices.
2. Background
There are many industrial plant control systems (IPCSs) known in the art. One such IPCS is shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, the IPCS 100 is comprised of a control system 102, I/O networks 118, 120, and field devices 122, 124. The IPCS 100 can also be comprised of I/O network cards 1261, . . . , 126N residing between the I/O networks 118, 120 and the field devices 122, 124. I/O network cards are well known to those having ordinary skill in the art, and therefore will not be described herein.
The control system 102 typically has a distributed network configuration, i.e., there are application specific modules 104, 106, 108, 114, 116, 128 connected to each other and an operator computer system 112 via a common communications network 110. More specifically, the control system is comprised of a server 104, a database 106, a main controller 108, an operator computer system 112, Fieldbus Interface modules (FIMs) 114, 116, and a supervisory controller 128. The listed devices 104, . . . , 108, 112, . . . , 116, 128 are communicatively connected to each other via the common communications network 110, which may be an Ethernet Network.
The control system 102 is communicatively connected to the field devices 122, 124 via the I/O networks 118, 120. The I/O networks 118, 120 are often Foundation Fieldbus networks. The phrase “Foundation Fieldbus”, as used herein, refers to an all-digital, serial, two-way communications system that serves as a network (e.g., a local area network) for industrial distributed network devices 104, . . . , 108, 112, . . . , 116, 128 and field devices 122, 124. The field devices 122, 124 include, but are not limited to, motors, pumps, gauges, valves, transmitters, actuators, boilers, distiller units, and sensors.
Despite the advantages of such a conventional IPCS 100, it suffers from certain drawbacks. For example, the IPCS 100 often includes a large number of devices 114, 116, 122, 124. As such, it is impractical to use the actual IPCS system including all of the above listed devices for purposes of control strategy configuration, operator training, and Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT). For example, the FAT execution is difficult since a portion of the system control resides in the field devices 122, 124. As such, it is logistically impossible to have thousands of field devices 122, 124 shipped to a FAT facility and connected to a control system 102 to test a particular IPCS application. Further, if the actual devices 122, 124 are used in a FAT, then delays in the construction of the IPCS 100 on site may occur.
In view of the forgoing, there remains a need for a practical system and method that can facilitate control strategy configuration, operator training, and Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT). The system and method needs to be capable of simulating some or all of the network elements and devices of the IPCS 100.